


Secrets

by lunarlychallenged



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 04:57:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15879018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarlychallenged/pseuds/lunarlychallenged
Summary: Specs was used to knowing and keeping secrets.  When he found out Albert liked you, it got a lot harder.





	Secrets

There were no adult Newsies. People were more likely to buy from a kid, so the people parenting the younger Newsies were only in their mid to late teens themselves.

Jack was the head honcho, the man to follow.

Mush and Finch were the physical guys. Some days that meant that they took an offensive stance, but sometimes that meant that the kids had somebody to wrestle with before bed.

Your job was, whether you wanted to or not, be soft. You cleaned scrapes and split up arguments. 

Specs was the confidant, the safe, the counselor. He knew secrets before anybody else, and it was for good reason. He never wanted to tell anybody, and his ability to be objective was unparalleled.

He knew about Jack’s thing for Katherine long before anybody else.

He was the person you went to, years prior, when you were scared to walk to your selling spot because of shifty eyed men who lurked around corners in the quiet hours. He was also the person who walked you to the dock then, and the person who shielded you from the men, just as you had hoped he would be.

He was the first person Davey told when the Jacobs boys were able to go back to school.

He held you after the strike, listening to you talk about everything and nothing until your breathing slowed to match his. 

You went to Specs a lot, more than the other Newsies, maybe, but he didn’t mind. He seeked you out more often than not, and it flooded his chest and roared in his ears when you did the same.

Really, Specs liked to listen. He liked to know what was happening around him, even if it wouldn’t be affecting him directly. He hadn’t been on edge at all when Albert pulled him aside one day - maybe it was about whatever Albert, Race, and JoJo had been whispering about the other night.

“You and Y/N are pretty close, right?”

Specs blinked, surprised. Yes, of course you were close. All Newsies were close. None of you had too many other people to be close to. “Sure.”

Albert glanced over his shoulder, where Race and JoJo were watching expectantly. “Good - yeah, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” His eyes were bright, and his ears were a little pink. 

“Okay, what?”

“I kind of have a thing for Y/N,” he said sheepishly. “It’s been driving me crazy - I had to get it off my chest.”

Specs’ eyebrows rose, but that was the sign he heard. He wouldn’t - couldn’t - say anything. You and Albert? Really? Maybe that wasn’t too much of a surprise; you were pretty spectacular, and Albert wasn’t an idiot.

Specs swallowed thickly, noting the way Albert kept looking back at the other two. “What are they doing here?”

“They thought I was being weird,” Albert said. “I didn’t want to talk to them about it - you know how chatty Race can be - so they thought I should talk to you.”

“Oh,” Specs said. He took off his glasses to polish the spotless glass. “Yeah, that makes sense. Do you feel better?”

“Yes,” Albert said quickly. “I definitely do. See you ‘round.”

Specs should have tried to talk more to Albert about it - figuring out how to deal with having a crush on a friend could be a pretty stressful experience. He should have offered to talk to you for Albert. He should have helped the boy come up with a plan. 

Specs did not try to do any of those things, since the very idea of it made him feel sick to his stomach.

 

 

You grinned at Specs, hair plastered to your face from the onslaught of rain. You had shoved all of your papers under your shirt, but he wasn’t sure how well it protected them. “Think we should call it quits? I ain’t sure there’ll be that many customers in this.”

He shrugged. “Whatever you want. Feeling lucky?”

He wasn’t feeling lucky. How could Albert have a crush on you? Of all of the teenagers in all the world, Albert just had to choose the person that Specs valued the most.

“Not particularly,” you said, squinting up at the sky. “Wanna go to Jacobi’s?”

“Why go there when there’s plenty of water out here?” Specs smiled when you laughed.

Of course Albert had a crush on you. Who wouldn’t? If Specs was a really good friend, he would help Albert out.

“You’s right,” you said. “We can just stay out here, catching the rain in our mouths. It’ll act as a shower, too. Two for one.”

“Brilliant. You planning to strip first, or should I?”

You laughed again, and Specs thought that he was a bad friend, twice over.

First, he was filled with an unhealthy dose of resentment toward a friend who had trusted him.

Second, he thought that he might be bitter because he liked you too, and he would rather Albert be unhappy than himself.

 

 

Specs could hardly breathe, and he couldn’t think of a way to bring the air back into the room.

You were standing across the way, and Albert had an arm slung over your shoulders. You were laughing at something he was saying, and Albert hadn’t looked away from your face the entire time he talked.

Was that how Specs looked at you?

Albert ducked down to whisper something in your ear, and your eyes gleamed when you ducked out of the way.

Did you look at Specs like that?

You caught Specs’ eye, and waved him over. He shook his head, and though your grin faltered, you turned back to Albert. If you knew how Albert felt, would you be letting him touch you like that?

Would you be letting him touch you more?

Albert grinned at Specs from across the way, and Specs grimaced back. He had never wanted to spill somebody’s secret so badly.

 

 

“Plans for after we age out,” you whispered. “Go.”

Specs bit the inside of his cheek. Soon enough, the two of you would have to start looking for other work. In all likelihood, you would both end up in factories. In times like this, when he was looking at your bunk from his, anything was possible.

Quietly, so none of the boys could get irritated, Specs dreamed a life. “I’ll go to New Orleans and learn voodoo. I’ll make a living selling charms and curses to anybody who can afford it.”

He could see a flash of your teeth in the moonlight. “I like it.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll go into moving pictures,” you said. “Everybody in America will know my name.”

Specs wrinkled his nose. “Why would you want that?”

“Money. Respect.” You shifted, pulling your blanket up to your chin. “Why not?”

“I don’t want to be known by everybody,” he said. “Just a few people.”

“You’s gonna have an easy time being happy, then,” you told him.

He shrugged, taking off his glasses. He immediately lost you in the dark blur. “I’ll use my voodoo to make you happy, too.”

“You don’t have to. You make me happy enough.” The last words were muffled by a yawn, and followed by a sleepy good night.

Specs thought that his heart might have broken. He thought that he might be in love with you. He thought that maybe you were right, and that what would make him happy may be simpler than what would make you happy. Maybe you deserved something better, and he was being selfish by keeping you to himself.

 

 

“Albert, I owe you an apology.”

Albert’s eyebrows rose, and his lips curved into a surprised smile. “For what?”

“I like Y/N,” Specs said. “I like Y/N, and I know that you do too. I won’t act on it, but I’s sure that I’ve been getting in the way of you -”

Albert gave a bark of laughter. “I don’t like Y/N. Like that, anyway.”

“But you said -”

“Race, JoJo, and I have been talking,” Albert said. He bore a smug grin. “We’s been watching you and Y/N for ages, and it was sickening, man. Absolutely nauseating, and you had no idea. We weren’t even sure you knew how perfect for each other you are. We thought that if you thought I would make a move, you’d realize you don’t want me to.”

Specs gaped at him. “You lied.”

“For what it’s worth,” Albert offered, “I’s sure Y/N likes you back.”

“How does that help?”

“You can have this,” Albert said with a shrug. “We don’t have much, and we might not ever have much, but you and Y/N have always had each other. Why not make the most of that?”

That was, surprisingly, a good point. Specs had pulled Albert aside ready to give you up. He hadn’t imagined having the opportunity to walk out of the conversation with more.

So long as you felt the same way, that is.

 

 

Specs held a paper over your head, blocking the sun from your eyes. It was too hot today, and he found himself missing the rain. “What’ll you do when we age out?”

You looked up at him, surprised, but pursed your lips in thought. “Buy a ranch in the south. Get some horses, some sheep, the works. What’ll you do?”

“Follow you there,” Specs said.

You half smiled. “Really? A world of possibility, and you just want to follow me to New Mexico, or wherever?”

“Sure.” Specs gave you a full grin, and yours grew in response. “That’s the dream, isn’t it? You’s the only person that needs to know me. If I’ve got you, there’s nothing else to want.”

“Really?” You gave a heavy swallow, hands worrying at the corner of one of your papes. “That’s really what you want once we’ve grown up?”

“Is there something else I should want?” The paper in Specs’ hand shook a little, and the sun flickered on and off your face. 

“I’s giving you a chance to back out,” you admitted. “To make a joke out of it.”

“I’ve never been so serious in my entire life.”

You grinned. Bracing your hands on his shoulders, you gave him a brief kiss. Surprised, Specs didn’t even bother lowering the paper roof he had created for you. 

“What was that for?”

“Sealing the deal,” you said. “You’s stuck with me, now. Whatever I do, you’ll be there.”

He scoffed. “As if that wasn’t already the plan.”

“It wasn’t something you ever said out loud,” you protested. 

He leaned down and kissed you, then. “Did I have to?”

“No,” you said, and Specs understand the appeal of telling somebody a secret. If people felt half as good telling people secrets as he did after telling you how he felt, he couldn’t imagine ever stopping.


End file.
